Busy Week
Trip Start
May 19, 2008
1
13
20
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Luxembourg,
Luxembourg
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Hague. It was by far the best place on the program so far. It was a beautiful city. We started out the trip with a walking tour. We had a great tour guide that kept us laughing the whole time. We also found a great hamburger place where they sold excellent food and for very cheap. We loved it and tried to return several times. Our school days consisted of visiting the Peace Palace, the International Criminal Court, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia
The UN Peace Palace
. While we were at the ICTY, my criminal law professor who has since left school to work as a prosecutor at the ICTY came to give our group a short lecture. It was great to see him again, and also happened to give the best lecture all day. Each of the courts were interesting, but we were obviously exhausted. I kept myself occupied during the hours of lecture each day by counting how many people were asleep. You know it gets bad when even the Duke falls asleep in the front row. Too many hours of speakers. We were starving by the time we were free to go on Sunday. We tried to find a place to eat some dinner, but our burger place was closed, and so was what seemed like everything else. We walked into an Indian restaurant, and weren't impressed. Luckily a woman waiting for her food spoke English and we asked if she knew of any other food places that were open. The only other option within walking distance was Chinese. Hmm....Chinese or Indian. I don't like either, so we opted for Chinese. I will tell you that I hate Chinese food, but I loved that meal. It was the best Chinese place ever. Both Ambers agreed. I ordered some kind of fried vegetables that had chicken, beef, shrimp, and crab in it. The meat was delicious. I'm talking really good. This is very ironic, because so far, we found great Mexican in Italy and Great Chinese in the Netherlands.
However, my favorite part of the Netherlands was when we walked to the beach
Inside the Peace Palace
. It was about a 20-30 minute walk from our hotel, but it was definitely worth it. It was beautiful. I got to see the waves crashing and walk in the sand. Most of the stores were closed, because they have weird hours of operation in Europe, but it was fun nonetheless. We stayed pretty late, but not until sunset because it's after 10 until the sun sets in the Hague, and we had class in the morning. But it set on our way back to the hotel. The next day we had class and were off to Brussels.We only spent one day in Brussels, but we packed in as much as we could. It was Amber Lane's birthday, so as soon as we got there the Ambers and I went to dinner to celebrate. Of course we picked an appropriate restaurant for Europe: Chi chi's. Ok, obviously, it wasn't the best restaurant, but Amber and I just got so excited when we saw it that we had to go. It's been years since I had fried ice cream. After dinner, we had another group walking tour (surprise). That was long and arduous as usual, but I did see two pee-ing statues: one a boy, and one a girl. They have a weird sense of humor over here. Afterward, a group of us went to the square in the middle of town because there were supposed to be fireworks. We got there and sat for awhile to hang out, and nothing was happening. We get told a little later that fireworks only happen on the weekends. Ooops. It was fun anyway. Not ready to turn in for the night, we hung out a little bit more and then returned to the hotel. We had to be up early for another day in suits. This time the EU Commission. After getting a few hours of lecture from some important guys from the EU, we were off again. This time we were on our way to Luxembourg.
It was not that easy though
View from outside the gate.
. When the bus finally arrived, all of the students hadn't. Apparently some had wondered off for food, or to see the "violent" demonstration down the street that we were supposed to stay away from. So we waited on the bus for Brandon and Nick to return for about half an hour. The bus was about to leave several times leaving them behind, but a few of us didn't feel right about it. Luckily for Brandon and Nick, they had a lot of friends. A few of us went down to the administration and tried to persuade them not to leave them behind. We didn't have an important meeting to attend to and we didn't know if they could have gotten hurt or not. Right as some students were volunteering to stay behind in case they showed up, Brandon and Nick came running down the street. They went to find food, and apparently got lost. That was obviously a great excuse after I had just convinced the Duke that they were fatally wounded. Oh well, we were off to Luxembourg.But wait, that's assuming that our bus could actually maneuver through the roads. We got to a cross roads and had to take a right. There was no way we could have made the turn. Long story short, everyone on the street (except the driving of a conveniently placed BMW) was out watching our bus pull back and forth trying to make the turn. A traffic cop arrived. Cars were backed up both ways for blocks, and only 1 BMW and a garage door were injured. But we made it (and left a note on the car...ooops.)
We made it about 2 blocks when a construction truck is pulled on the side of the road, blocking the passage way. We have no way to get through. So our bus pulls up behind, conveniently blocking the traffic going the other direction also. Some cars decide to drive around using the sidewalk
e and Amber reaching for Peace
. Others obey the law and wait. The truck owner/driver is no where around. Eventually, and ironically, the owner of another BMW who is caught in the traffic going the other direction gets out of his car. Our driver has since gotten out of the bus to assess the situation and smoke a cigarette. It's been a long day for him. Mr. BMW would not have this. He had somewhere to go. As I am sitting on the second floor of the bus, I watch the situation unfold before me. The bus driver is walking on the sidewalk along the road. Mr. BMW gets out of the car and walks around. Eventually he walks up to our bus, reaches in the window, and starts beeping our horn. But he doesn't just beep the horn, he lays on the horn. Hilarious. Needless to say, the truck driver soon arrives and the roadway is clear. On to Luxembourg, for real this time.Ok, so I've been here a few days now. I've gone to the European Court of Justice, listened to lectures by a Judge, a legal secretary, and the equivalent of clerks in the court. Each of them very interesting. We also had the opportunity to sit in on a court case dealing with what was basically a Spanish anti-trust law and contracts for a service station. The attorneys were speaking Spanish and the judges were speaking French. All of us, including the judges, were wearing head phones tuned to the channel of our language. There was almost two dozen interpreters in the glass booths around the court room interpreting in about a dozen different languages
The Beach!
. It was crazy, but very cool. They had to interpret both French and Spanish into their native tongue. I was very impressed at their language skills.After our long day at the court, we had class. I used my first day of skipping today. It was just too long of a day. Instead I took about a 4 hour nap while everyone was gone. The Ambers came back from class and tried to get me to go to dinner and shopping, but I had none of that and went right back to sleep. Eventually I woke up and caught up with some others to get dinner with them. After dinner, we all walked over to the square where a huge screen tv and stage was set up to watch the soccer game. There was a little bit of entertainment during the half time, but not very appropriate. However, the game was awesome. The square was standing room only. There were hundreds of fans with huge flags and face painting. It was great. We weren't even cheering on Luxembourg. Most people were cheering for Spain. I'm not really sure why, but I went along with it. It seemed like the right thing to do. I guess because of the cold war and everything. In the end, Spain beat Russia 3-0. Spain will now play Germany in the finals on Sunday. After the game, we stopped for ice cream sundaes at McDonald's and went back to the hotel. Up early again for class.
Today we had four hours of class
another shot.
. It was brutal, but with the help of spider solitaire, I made it through. After class, Josh, the Ambers and I went on a little walk for lunch, to shop, and to check out tickets at the train station. Amber Lane could only shop for a little bit before heading back for one of her classes (she has a different schedule), so that left me, Josh, and Amber B. My only goals were to get ice cream and fruit at a delicious-looking sidewalk stand, and to find sunglasses. I completed neither mission. Also, Josh could not find a cheap duffel bag - his #1 mission. Amber, however, did get her train tickets to Metz, France. I don't have the energy to go along, so I'll be staying at the hotel this weekend. We came back to the hotel, stayed for about an hour and then went out again (with Amber Lane again joining us) for dinner. This time, we had Subway. It was delicious, and they gave us a discount for being students. So we got a cheap meal that filled us up, and we even got to refill our drinks. God Bless America. You don't know how much you take for granted until you go to foreign countries and get charged for everything. In the end, it was an uneventful day because I tried to keep it that way. Most people have left for a weekend trip by now. Not me. This weekend, I will try to get everyone updated this weekend, and post all the pictures that you've been waiting for. I'm looking forward to sleeping in.
Comments
Hi Alina
I love to read your blog! Fortunately this time I ate BEFORE I read it...'cause reading your blog usually makes me hungry :) although I could go for some fried ice cream...
Brenda